Life is full of lessons and surprises. In our profession we often come across very inspiring people- some old and some young.  But one does not often expect a small child to be such a huge inspiration.

Even though Tiisetso was born with no arms and only one normal leg, he believes that no matter what, you should “live your life!” When I first met Tiisetso, my first instinct was to pity him, but instead I was inspired by his way of life and his fantastic, friendly and positive attitude.  He is just as busy as any other fully functional six-year-old boy. 

He is constantly active; I watched him pull a piece of paper closer to him with his one foot and use his other to draw pictures on it.

Tiisetso’s right leg is 6cms shorter than his left leg and his foot is pointing downwards. If he wants to walk or run, he has to jump on his left leg, something he has been doing for the last six years.

His mother contacted me and asked if we could help.  As he used his feet as hands, we were concerned as to how a new leg would influence his life. Although we were not certain about what to do, we knew that we needed to try helping him. It was heart-warming to see Tiisetso’s exhilaration about his new leg.

The manufacturing process was challenging.  It was also difficult to picture the end result as we did not know how well he would be able to walk and how this would influence his day-to-day activities as the position of his leg and foot influences the alignment and the appearance of the prosthesis.

It was a pleasure and privilege working with Tiisetso and every time we met, I was inspired and amazed with how he handled everything we had to do.

Miraculously, Tiisetso happily put on his prosthetic leg and started walking.  He began slowly, but we all knew that he would need a day or two to adjust. Very soon, he was able to take off the leg, put it on again and run and jump like any other child his age.